The Daily Fuckup

The Manhattan hush-money trial spent May 21, 2024, on the kind of courtroom work that usually happens just before a case is handed to the jury: the judge and lawyers fought over the instructions that would frame deliberations. With the defense already rested, Judge Juan Merchan and counsel for Donald Trump and the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued over the wording of the charge, including how the court should describe the evidence and the legal standards jurors would be told to apply.

That was the day’s real business. The jury had been sent home for a week, with closing arguments expected on May 28 and deliberations not set to begin until after that. So while the courtroom was still active, the trial was no longer in witness mode. It had moved into the final stretch, where the shape of the jury charge mattered because it would guide how jurors organized everything they had heard.

Merchan also reserved decision on the defense’s request to dismiss the case. He did not rule from the bench that day. Instead, the judge kept the focus on the charging conference and the effort to lock down the instructions before summations.

The result was less theatrical than a witness fight or a dramatic ruling, but more important than it looked. Once a judge starts settling the charge, the trial is no longer about what else might come in through testimony. It is about how the law will be presented once the case is finally turned over to the jury. On May 21, that handoff was still ahead, not yet underway.